Beyond the Higher Ground

THOMAS A. BRIGGER

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Page Publishing, Inc., 2019.

How acquired: Cozy Mystery Review Crew

First line: She’s gone, Tuck.

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: When we meet Mason, he’s on his way to Bright’s Mountain, where he will be in charge of overseeing the construction of a new prison. He’s still mourning the death of his wife, and while other members of the construction crew are renting apartments or duplexes in a nearby town, Mason chooses to rent a house that, while closer to the building site, is in a remote area of Appalachia, with few neighbors.

The book is a bit meandering, with plenty of stuff happening but at the same time not a lot of action. It’s wordy. It’s not a light read, but rather requires some concentration. The writing is a little grandiose, and yet eloquent and captivating. The fact that I did not have to set the book down to look up a word, not once, made me a bit proud of myself. The narration occasionally switches to the past, giving us glimpses of Mason’s previous life when he and his wife were happy together. The narration is very descriptive, and certainly relays the desolation and hardship of life in the Appalachian mountains, with some colorful characters.

Mason makes friends among his co-workers and, almost in spite of himself, among the locals. But not everyone is friendly, and it quickly becomes evident that somebody wants him to leave. Eventually Mason finds himself embroiled in an investigation into the possibility of drugs being run through the construction site. As the danger escalates, he is determined to not be run out of town, and becomes a self-appointed protector of one of the locals, a single mother. I loved the relationship that developed between them, and between Mason and her young daughter.

Towards the end of the book, there is a real action scene, but it almost felt out of place. The author’s writing style just doesn’t seem to lend itself to pure action, and despite what was happening on the page there wasn’t a feeling of danger or suspense. But the rest of the book more than made up for that, and I was sorry to reach the last page and have to leave Mason behind.

Goodreads synopsis: Tasked with an assignment to manage the construction of a prison on a remote Appalachian mountaintop, Tucker Mason sees an opportunity to restart his life past the death of his wife and the recurring demons of his childhood. But strange occurrences at the house that he rented on Bright’s Mountain and the suspicion of drugs being smuggled through the prison construction site create distractions that lead to violence, intrigue, and his own imperilment. Struggling under the weight of loss and guilt, he encounters a world that he never knew existed in the shadow of the emerging prison. With a unique perspective on the human condition, Beyond the Higher Ground takes its reader through a historical glimpse of Southwestern Virginia to a powerful exposition of the drug crisis that has devastated the region and the abject brutality of those who deliver it.